Daycare Providers As Neighbors?

[KEG123]

So this is a bit funny to me. I lived in my last house, where I opened my daycare, for about 3 years. When we moved in I had no idea that my next door neighbor did daycare also. There were lots of signs, like children toys outside (which could have been for her grandchildren) and a schoolbus coming in the afternoons. Anyways, there were never any children outside playing so I never knew for sure until I had to ask her a question and knocked on her door.

Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago, I recently moved from my last home and now, go figure, there is a daycare across the street. She has the words "***'s daycare- phone number" spray painted/stenciled on part of her brick home. And a sign out front. Her house appears to be bigger and fenced. I feel like, if someone comes to interview with me and they see her setup right across the street, they'll leave my house and call her. Might be unlikely and maybe she doesn't even have an opening.

But basically I need to step things up and make myself seem awesome. LOL. What would you do to put yourself out there and set yourself apart from the competition so to speak? I don't currently do any type of preschool program, but I have in the past. I guess that is one thing I could do. I also am thinking about, come spring, having my brother and his friends come out to help install a fence. Has anyone done this for relatively cheap? I rent and don't want to spend more than I have to. And easy to set up? Ideas?

What else could I do?

[SilverSabre25]

First and foremost I think I would make friends with her Form a good relationship and you guys can hopefully work things out between you, have play dates, support for each other during the day, refer clients when only one of you has openings....

[KEG123]

I was thinking that for sure. Her phone number is on the outside of her house. LOL I was thinking to call and introduce myself and tell her if she's full to give people my number.

[Meeko]

Hit google and pinterest for curb appeal ideas. You may find something eye-catching.

[Fruitloops1]

I would introduce myself to get off on the right foot.

If you are adding a fence to a rental property, check with your landlord maybe they will share the cost in adding the fence. Sometimes they will and then sometimes they will look at you like you have three heads. Worth a try...

[allsmiles]

Hit google and pinterest for curb appeal ideas. You may find something eye-catching.

oh yeahhhhhhh, somebody really got hooked onto pinterest today LOL

[hgonzalez]

Make friends with her for sure. My neighbor and I are both daycare providers and have been a huge support to one another. We share craft ideas, order craft supplies together and help each other with business related issues. We also refer families to one another when we cannot enroll any more kids in a certain age group.

We have had times when we both interviewed the same families and one of us has gotten the family and not the other. We just try to be fair to one another and not get into any 'backstabbing'.

See what you can find out about her daycare so you are providing the kind of care that you need to to be competitive.

[KEG123]

Great advice. I'll probably wait until after the holidays to call her. Things are so busy around here, if you've all read, with the splitting and the moving.

[daycaremom76]

If your too shy to just go check her out then I would send a friend to act like they are looking for care and scope out her place. Sometimes that "home" feeling is more appealing then then Preschool setting. At least once a year I send a letter home with my parent's to evaluate me. I like to know what I am doing good/bad and where I can improve. When I first opened I was clueless, my daycare was just my normal living room with some toys and then I started building on from there. In one of those evaluations I had a parent tell me they didn't like that I changed my living space to a preschool she told me that she specifically came to me cause she wanted her kids to feel like they were at home and not dropped off at some school! She still stayed with me though. I know of 2 other providers a block in either direction from me that have way better set-ups then me and I've had people chose me over them because my house smelled better (I always burn tarts in a flamless heater) another cause I had dogs and she wanted her son around animals cause all their friends and families had them! Anyway my point is people chose daycares for the craziest reasons! Just cause she has a nicer set up doesn't mean she's top choice! Go to vistaprint design yourself a nice sign and stick it out front!

[KEG123]

I guess you're right. People choose daycare for reasons I may not understand at first. My main room has some toys and some "home" like stuff. Then my second room is the main daycare room with a small table and more toys. I do have a dog, and they do too. My house does smell really good most times, because of the plug in warmer, .

On the subject of fencing though, anyone have experience DIY fencing? any tips or recommendations?

[daycaremom76]

We have a 6' fence around our yard that we built ourselves, no prior experience. We just watched youtube videos and went from there. Our fence actually looks nicer then our neighbors who went through Long fence. We have a pool & pond so we put in a fence down the middle of our yard too, we bought those black metal poles from Home Depot (maybe $2 each) and a big roll of 4ft chicken wire off Craigslist and used that. The posts go in the ground about 1ft and they have these little black clips to hold the chicken wire. It was pretty cheap and it's sturdy, the kids crash into it all the time and just bounce off it. As long as you have a pretty flat yard I don't see why you can't use those pre-attached panels. Check out craigslist a lot of times people are getting rid of an old chainlink fence or even wood left over from another fence. I go to craigslist for everything before I pay full dollar at Home Depot or Lowes!

[MyAngels]

I guess you're right. People choose daycare for reasons I may not understand at first. My main room has some toys and some "home" like stuff. Then my second room is the main daycare room with a small table and more toys. I do have a dog, and they do too. My house does smell really good most times, because of the plug in warmer, .

On the subject of fencing though, anyone have experience DIY fencing? any tips or recommendations?

My DH and our two boys put up a nice cedar fence last year. It's really not too tough, just make sure you check the property line before you lay it out, take your time to make sure it's nice and level, etc. It's not a project you want to just slap up quickly if you want it to last. I'd suggest renting or borrowing a gas powered post-hole digger as that makes putting up the posts a snap. We bought the supplies at Lowes and found a 10% off coupon in the moving package that the post office has. We have a decent sized yard and it cost us about $700 including renting the post-hole digger. We didn't use the panels because it seems like a lot of the fences we see that were built that way tend to fall down and don't look as good.

[MamaG]

I love my setup inside and out but have a very small home and yard. I guess to 'make up' for the lack of space I provide high quality toys and preschool curriculum. I had a playhouse built to fit in my day care room and attached a playground slide to it for winter fun. It has a flat roof to provide me space to set the 'toy boxes' that are full of sorted playthings. When I add the new carpet and paint its going to look awesome! Pinterest is good for tons of ideas.

I have a very Montessori feel, very colorful, low numbers, 5 total two are mine, preschool curriculum, field trips each month. If parents are looking for a home feel with good curriculum and fun educational activities this program appeals to them. Each child gets lots of one on one attention.

[daycaremom76]

do you have a pic of your indoor playhouse that you can post?

[cheerfuldom]

If your too shy to just go check her out then I would send a friend to act like they are looking for care and scope out her place. Sometimes that "home" feeling is more appealing then then Preschool setting. At least once a year I send a letter home with my parent's to evaluate me. I like to know what I am doing good/bad and where I can improve. When I first opened I was clueless, my daycare was just my normal living room with some toys and then I started building on from there. In one of those evaluations I had a parent tell me they didn't like that I changed my living space to a preschool she told me that she specifically came to me cause she wanted her kids to feel like they were at home and not dropped off at some school! She still stayed with me though. I know of 2 other providers a block in either direction from me that have way better set-ups then me and I've had people chose me over them because my house smelled better (I always burn tarts in a flamless heater) another cause I had dogs and she wanted her son around animals cause all their friends and families had them! Anyway my point is people chose daycares for the craziest reasons! Just cause she has a nicer set up doesn't mean she's top choice! Go to vistaprint design yourself a nice sign and stick it out front!

OP please dont send a friend over to "scope out her place". That is a waste of her time to interview someone who isnt actually looking for daycare. I am assuming you wouldnt want someone wasting YOUR time with interviews that will for sure go no where.